Originally Posted by Canarsie
While your points are indeed cogent and well-reasoned, vasantn, attempting to blatantly lie to Delta Air Lines, which is in of itself indeed unethical and immoral, in order to resolve the issue will only exacerbate the situation further.
As a practical matter, I agree with you. OTOH, this particular case aside, lying may not always be unethical or immoral. Case in point: if your wife were an undercover CIA agent (a la Valerie Plame) and you were asked if she was one, would you not lie to protect her identity? Just playing devil's advocate as I often like to do.
Also, lying to a person who has placed trust in you is a completely different kettle of fish from lying to faceless corporations, most of whom routinely lie to the public. Again, I'm not advocating that people do this as a matter of course. I just have trouble with black-and-white characterizations.